10 years on in Srebrenica and what have we learned?

My heart goes out to the Bosnians that lost their loved ones in the Srebrenica 10 years ago. I cannot imagine the horror of the events that took place, or the memories that must haunt them still. The cruel irony of being offered safe haven, only to have the out-numbered soldiers step aside and allow the massacre to take place is just so awful.

I only wish that it could be said that things have changed - that the international community (and most of all, the Security Council) has learned from Srebrenica and Rwanda and is willing to intervene earlier to defend the lives of the most vulnerable. However, Dafur is testament to the fact that this is simply not the case. The suffering of the people of Sudan apparently does not rate highly enough on their radar for any real action to be taken. It seems that the Sudanese people are simply not important enough.

I volunteered last year with an organisation that documents the stories of refugees for the purposes of conducting advocacy on their behalf. The stories that I wrote up from Sudan were unbearably traumatic. Women and girls who had been sold, raped and tortured so many times in their, often short, lives and who had over and over again been denied the protection of their families, their communities and of those organisations (like the UN) who are supposed to act on their behalf. The horror that they experience is only compounded by the stunning lack of justice that they encounter when they try to speak out and defend themselves.

It is so easy to get overwhlemed by the terrible things that we as humans are capable of doing to each other, and are capable of turning away from. Next post, I must remember to think of something positive to restore my faith in humanity.